Jan 27, 2014

The distance from Amman to my house in Beit Sahour is 45
miles (72 kilometers). In normal
situations, that should take 1-1.5 hours.
Sunday it took me some 13 hours (i.e. Ten times more) and I arrived at
my home at 3 AM. I won’t bore you with
details of misery and can just summarize the main reason: occupation. The illegal military occupation and
colonization of the West Bank by Israeli forces has now been in place for almost
47 years, one of the longest in history.
I see the worst of people and the best of people daily. I spent five days in Jordan working on
biodiversity issues with my friend Prof. Zuhair Amr. He and his family always
treat me so nice and their hospitality is unmatched. But most important for me was getting to
learn so many new things. We even got to
the Jordan river under the watchful eye and with permission from the Jordanian
military and collected some freshwater snails there (pictures were not allowed). This is highly unusual for a Palestinian (or a Jordanian) since Jordanian
military ensure a buffer zone with no one to get near the water border for the
shared parts of the Jordan river with the Israeli-Occupied West Bank. Of course from this side, Israeli occupation
prevents Palestinians from getting anywhere near the river while Israeli
settlers and soldiers are free to move around as they wish.

Prof. Zuhair in his lab

Snail from the Jordan river basin

Jordan, a constitutional monarchy where I did my bachelor
degree, is still a fascinating, beautiful and diverse place. Home to 3.5
million Palestinian refugees, some 600,000 Syrian refugees, and almost one
million Iraqis and Egyptians. The
original Jordanians thus constitute the ruling minority in a place surrounded by problems. But the country miraculously managed to
navigate through the instability affecting nearby countries and even profit
from such instability (getting significant subsidies from Western Countries and
gulf states). It is the only venue out
for Palestinians from the West Bank into the rest of the world. Our economies and people are intertwined and
not just because millions of Palestinians hold Jordanian citizenship. Palestine
to the West of Jordan is under a brutal colonial occupation with Palestinian
leadership and people in between uprisings and thus in a state of maximum
weakness. Syria to the North used to be even more self-sufficient than Jordan
but has now descended into mayhem. Egypt
to the southwest likewise is suffering significantly with a military run
country that could not and would not figure a peaceful way to deal with the “problematic”
Muslim Brotherhood so they decided to fight them and even designate them a
terrorist organization. The Palestinian authority President Abbas openly sided
with the military rulers (contradicting long standing Fatah policies of
non-interference in Arab affairs). Saudi Arabia to the south is Western
supported absolute monarchy (not like Jordan which has a parliament) and has
its own issues. Iraq to the East is.. well you know from the news what happened
after the US invasion (one million dead and more dying daily). These difficulties hopefully will not come to
Jordan and Jordan will continue to develop peacefully in this midst. What is most shameful is that Syrian refugees
were allowed into all neighboring countries except one: “Israel”. Israeli authorities are also persecuting the
few hundred African refugees that came.
Imagine if the Israeli government had at least allowed the Palestinian
refugees who fled their Syrian refugee camps (nearly 400,000 of them) to come
back to their homes and lands in the Galilee.
Imagine how much this would have helped change political dynamics.

Photo from RSCN website http://www.rscn.org.jo/

I do not want to paint too rosy a picture of Jordan even
though much has already been accomplished (for me the work of the Royal Society
for the Conservation of Nature is a brilliant example as is the levels of
healthcare and education). And certainly
it is not up to me. Most Jordanians (unlike
most Israelis) recognize there is a lot of work to be done on their own
government. While waiting for hours on the bus from Jordan as it was held up
with over 15 buses at the bridge to the Israeli border controls, we watched
shows including a Jordanian satirical political show that mocks the government
and the ministers. I think more shows
like that should be encouraged. A similar show in Palestinian TV that mocked
our authority was closed by the PA thought police (shamefully). A similar show
in Egypt (“Albarnamej”) was also shuttered more than once. But we also should not put all blame on
governments. Large part of the blame is
on us. I was dismayed for example to see
how some Palestinians cut through lines even in front of old ladies or toss
their garbage out of a moving vehicle or do not show sympathy for suffering
civilians (e.g. in Gaza, in Yarmouk Refugee camp, in Syrian Hama area). It is these attitudes that need to
change. While intellectually I can
understand that decades of colonization and dehumanization can “rub-off” on our
souls, we must teach our children to respect each other and the environment. This is a concept that I hope we will do with
starting to build educational museums (we are working on one in the Bethlehem
area now).

In other good news, the virulent Zionist attack against the
American studies association and other organizations and churches seen to be
back-firing and there is a constant growth of these movement. Every day brings us good news. For example, according to Haaretz: “ABP, a Dutch
pension fund considered the world's third largest, Nordea Investment
Management, a Scandinavian firm, and DNB Asset Management, a Norwegian company,
want more information about the Israeli banks' involvement in Israeli
settlements. The three European firms combined manage nearly 500 billion
euros' worth of assets. The review by the three pension funds comes about
two weeks after PGGM, the largest Dutch pension fund, divested from Israel’s
five largest banks because they have branches in the West Bank and/or are
involved in financing construction in the settlements.”

The Palestinian Capitalists That Have Gone Too Far: While
most Palestinians living under Israeli occupation are struggling to survive, a
powerful group of Palestinian capitalists is thriving and growing in political,
economic and social influence.

Jan 14, 2014

We are in a new year and certainly I wish all humans (friends and foes) a happy
new year that would bring justice which is the prerequisite for peace. In the
first few field-trips in 2014, we saw beautiful budding lilies, many species of
snails and insects, and birds and others signs of renewed life after the snow
in Palestine. Our water wells are full and Spring is coming. Life renews
itself. We remember fallen comrades but we look to the future with hope.
I spoke to several groups of young students from around the world last two
weeks and they also give us hope.The young and old Palestinians I interact with
daily also give us hope. In a party, I talked to the oldest Qumsiyeh alive, a
92 year old woman who is phenomenal in her inspiration (picture above).

We must learn to appreciate and thank people more while they are alive. I
felt sad at hearing the news of the passing of Dr. Lamia Haddad Khairallah.
She was a great activist who loved Palestine (where she is from), Lebanon
(where she grew up) and the US (her adopted home where I met her first in 1979
and she and her late husband sort of adopted me). Services will be January 24
at 2 PM, Storrs Congregational Church, 2 North Eagleville Rd., Storrs,
Connecticut. We will miss her dearly. I wish I could be there.

New facebook page to like, join, and disseminate to protect Palestinian rights
“The original PLO charter called for right of return and
self-determination. These remain the quintessential demands of the majority of
Palestinians. We reject the planned structures to liquidate the Palestinian
cause. International law states that all agreements that abrogate basic rights
like the rights of refugees are null and void (even if signed by some
“leaders”) . We believe and will join forces to achieve these goals including
via Sumud (resilience) on our land, popular resistance, and the spread of
boycotts, divestments and sanction against the Israeli apartheid system.
Palestine (from the river to the sea) is our homeland and our priority. We will
work to make it a country of all its citizens with all the returning refugees
regardless of religious beliefs.”http://www.facebook.com/7uqooq

About Me

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem University (BU) and directs the BU's cytogenetics laboratory and the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability in occupied Palestine. He also taught at Birzeit and Al-Quds Universities. He is author of "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle", “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment”, "Mammals of the Holy Land", and "The Bats of Egypt." He formerly served on the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People in Beit Sahour and Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Society at Aida Refugee Camp.